Itron Announces Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) today reported financial results for its second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2011. Highlights include:

• Quarterly and six month revenues of $612 million and $1.2 billion;
• Quarterly and six month non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.20 and $2.18, including discrete tax benefits of 19 cents for the quarter;
• Six month cash flow from operations and free cash flow of $88 million and $59 million;
• Quarterly and six month adjusted EBITDA of $80 million and $160 million;
• Twelve-month backlog of $1.0 billion and total backlog of $1.6 billion; and
• Quarterly bookings of $483 million.

"I am very pleased with the performance of Itron International. We had record gas and water revenue in the quarter further demonstrating the strength of our global footprint and balanced portfolio,” said Malcolm Unsworth, president and CEO. "Our smart metering projects in North America are continuing to drive revenue, but one of the keys to our future growth is to continue to introduce innovative technologies in other parts of the world and to streamline our operations to improve profitability and our time to market.”

Operations Highlights:

Revenues increased $45 million, or 8%, for the quarter and $111 million, or 10%, for the six month period compared to the respective periods last year. Excluding a $36 million favorable effect from changes in foreign currency exchange rates, revenue for the quarter grew 2% over the prior year’s quarter. Record quarterly revenue in International’s gas and water business lines was the primary driver of the increase. The increase in revenues for the six month period was primarily due to higher shipments of smart gas modules in North America and increased gas and water smart metering projects in International. The favorable foreign exchange effect on revenues for the six month period was $40 million.

Gross margin for the quarter was 31.2% which was slightly higher than the prior year second quarter margin of 30.7%. For the first six months of 2011, gross margin was 31.9% compared with 31.1% in 2010. The improvement in margin for both periods was primarily due to decreased warranty expense in our International segment.

Operating expenses, excluding amortization of intangibles of $16.2 million and restructuring charges of $1.9 million, were $124.9 million, or 20.4% of revenue, for the quarter compared to $107.3 million, or 18.9% of revenue, in the prior year. Investments in product research and development for new and enhanced products as well as increased global marketing activity were the primary driver of the increase. In addition, approximately $6.9 million of the increase was due to changes in foreign exchange rates.

Net income and diluted EPS for the second quarter and six month period were $34.4 million, or 84 cents per share, and $61.6 million, or $1.50 per share. This compares with net income of $25.3 million, or 61 cents per share, and $50.6 million, or $1.23 per share, in the same periods in 2010. The increase in 2011 net income for the quarter was primarily due to $8 million, or 19 cents, of discrete tax benefits recognized during the quarter. The increase in net income for the six month period was primarily due to higher operating income in our International segment.

Forward Looking Statements:

This release contains forward-looking statements concerning our expectations about operations, financial performance, sales, earnings and cash flows. These statements reflect our current plans and expectations and are based on information currently available. The statements rely on a number of assumptions and estimates, which could be inaccurate, and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to vary materially from those anticipated. Risks and uncertainties include the rate and timing of customer demand for our products, rescheduling of current customer orders, changes in estimated liabilities for product warranties, changes in laws and regulations, our dependence on new product development and intellectual property, future acquisitions, changes in estimates for stock-based and bonus compensation, increasing volatility in foreign exchange rates, international business risks and other factors which are more fully described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Itron undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, including our business outlook.

2011 Guidance:

Itron’s guidance for 2011 is as follows:

• Revenue between $2.3 billion and $2.4 billion
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $4.20 and $4.60

Our guidance assumes a Euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate of $1.40, average shares outstanding of approximately 41.2 million and a non-GAAP effective tax rate between 22% and 25% (inclusive of the discrete tax benefits recognized through June 30, 2011). In addition, the guidance excludes any charges or benefits related to our current restructuring activities.

Non-GAAP Financial Information:

To supplement our consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP operating expense, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. We provide these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe they provide greater transparency and represent supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. Specifically, these non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance investors’ overall understanding of our current financial performance and our future anticipated performance by excluding infrequent costs, particularly those associated with acquisitions. We exclude certain infrequent costs, particularly those associated with acquisitions, in our non-GAAP financial measures as we believe the net result is a measure of our core business. Non-GAAP performance measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Finally, our non-GAAP financial measures may be different from those reported by other companies. A more detailed discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures, the limitations of using such measures, and reconciliations between non-GAAP and the nearest GAAP financial measures are included in this press release.

Earnings Conference Call:

Itron will host a conference call to discuss the financial results contained in this release at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) on July 27, 2011. The call will be webcast in a listen only mode. Webcast information and conference call materials will be made available in the "Investors/Investor Events” section of Itron’s website (www.itron.com) prior to the start of the call. The webcast replay will begin after the conclusion of the live call and will be available for two weeks. A telephone replay of the call will also be available approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call, for 48 hours, and is accessible by dialing (888) 203-1112 (Domestic) or (719) 457-0820 (International), entering passcode #6754032.

About Itron:

At Itron, we’re dedicated to delivering end-to-end smart grid and smart distribution solutions to electric, gas and water utilities around the globe. Our company is the world’s leading provider of smart metering, data collection and utility software systems, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on our technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Our offerings include electricity, gas, water and heat meters; network communication technology; collection systems and related software applications; and professional services. To realize your smarter energy and water future, start here: www.itron.com.

Statements of operations, segment information, balance sheets, cash flow statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures follow.

Itron, Inc.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The accompanying press release contains non-GAAP financial measures. To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP operating expense, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures please see the table captioned "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to Most Directly Comparable GAAP Financial Measures.”

We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means for determining executive compensation. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance and ability to service debt by excluding certain expenses that may not be indicative of our recurring core operating results. These non-GAAP financial measures facilitate management’s internal comparisons to our historical performance as well as comparisons to our competitors’ operating results. Our executive compensation plans exclude non-cash charges related to amortization of intangibles and non-recurring discrete cash and non-cash charges that are infrequent in nature such as purchase accounting adjustments, extinguishment of debt gains and losses or restructuring charges. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting, and analyzing future periods. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they provide greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making and because they are used by our institutional investors and the analyst community to help them analyze the health of our business.

Non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income – We define non-GAAP operating expense as operating expense excluding the expenses related to the amortization of intangible assets and restructuring. We define non-GAAP operating income as operating income excluding the expenses related to the amortization of intangible assets and restructuring. We consider these non-GAAP financial measures to be useful metrics for management and investors because they exclude the effect of expenses that are related to previous acquisitions and restructurings. By excluding these expenses we believe that it is easier for management and investors to compare our financial results over multiple periods and analyze trends in our operations. For example, expenses related to amortization of intangible assets are now decreasing, which is improving GAAP operating margins, yet the improvement in GAAP operating margins due to this lower expense is not necessarily reflective of an improvement in our core business. There are some limitations related to the use of non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income versus operating expense and operating income calculated in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income exclude some costs that are recurring. Additionally, the expenses that we exclude in our calculation of non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income may differ from the expenses that our peer companies exclude when they report the results of their operations. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information about the GAAP amounts we have excluded from our non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income and evaluating non-GAAP operating expense and non-GAAP operating income together with GAAP operating expense and GAAP operating income.

Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS – We define non-GAAP net income as net income excluding the expenses associated with amortization of intangible assets, amortization of debt placement fees, amortization of convertible debt discount, and restructuring. We define non-GAAP diluted EPS as non-GAAP net income divided by the weighted average shares, on a diluted basis, outstanding during each period. We consider these financial measures to be useful metrics for management and investors for the same reasons that we use non-GAAP operating income. The same limitations described above regarding our use of non-GAAP operating income apply to our use of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from these non-GAAP measures and evaluating non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS together with GAAP net income and GAAP diluted EPS.

Adjusted EBITDA – We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (a) minus interest income, (b) plus interest expense, depreciation and amortization of intangible asset expenses, and restructuring, and (c) exclude the tax expense or benefit. We believe that providing this financial measure is important for management and investors to understand our ability to service our debt as it is a measure of the cash generated by our core business. Management uses adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure for executive compensation. A limitation to using adjusted EBITDA is that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance for the period and the measure includes some non-cash items and excludes other non-cash items. Additionally, the items that we exclude in our calculation of adjusted EBITDA may differ from the items that our peer companies exclude when they report their results. Management compensates for this limitation by providing a reconciliation of this measure to GAAP net income.

Free cash flow – We define free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities less cash used for acquisitions of property, plant, and equipment. We believe free cash flow provides investors with a relevant measure of liquidity and a useful basis for assessing our ability to fund our operations and repay our debt. The same limitations described above regarding our use of non-GAAP operating income apply to our use of free cash flow. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts and reconciling to free cash flow.

The accompanying tables have more detail on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to the non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures.